Routine writer

Routine Writer

A routine is a prompt that fires on a schedule or trigger, iterates over a set of items (inbox entries, open PRs, issues, CI runs, monitoring alerts), optionally takes action on them (opens a PR, posts a comment, applies a fix, files an issue), and produces a short structured report. The report may summarize what the routine found, what it did, or both. Well-written routines share a tight shape; this skill encodes it.

When to use

Invoke this skill whenever you write or edit a routine, whether the user calls it that or not. Signals: "every morning", "on a schedule", "each time X merges", "digest", "triage", "briefing", "health check", "tracker", "catch me up on", "review my inbox/PRs/issues".

Do not invoke for one-off prompts, single-turn questions, or prompts that don't iterate over a set of items.

The shape of a routine

Every routine has three parts: title, tagline, body. The body does six moves, in order.

Part 1 — Title

Short noun phrase, domain + action. No articles, no first-person verbs.

• Email triage, PR review digest, System health check, Flaky test tracker, Briefing

Part 2 — Tagline

One line. Describes the outcome, not the mechanism. Ends with a period.

• Summary of your calendar, emails, and messages.
• Categorize and prioritize your inbox, with draft responses for urgent items.
• Find tests that pass and fail intermittently across recent CI runs.

Part 3 — Body

Move 1 — Opening directive

One imperative sentence. Verb + scope. No preamble, no "please", no softening.

• Generate a briefing to help me catch up. Include:
• Review my inbox for new and unread emails. For each email:
• Identify flaky tests — tests that both passed and failed on the same code over the past week.

Pick a specific verb (Review, Identify, Scan, Draft, Perform, Generate) over a generic one (Help, Look at, Check out).

Move 2 — Per-item numbered list

When the routine processes a set of units (emails, PRs, issues, tests), open with For each <thing>: (or For each <thing>, report:) and list the attributes to produce per item. Items are verb-first and each produces a discrete output: a category, a field, a summary, a draft, a flag.

For each PR, report:
1. Title and author
2. How long it's been open
3. Review status — approved, changes requested, or awaiting review
4. CI status — passing, failing, or pending
5. Merge conflicts — whether the branch is up to date

When the routine produces sections of a single report (not per-item), open with Include: or Report: and number the sections instead:

Generate a briefing to help me catch up. Include:
1. Schedule — List upcoming meetings and events...
2. Important emails — Summarize unread emails...

Move 3 — Classification schemes (when used)

Enumerate categories inline as a closed set, comma-separated, or before the last item. No Oxford comma.

• Urgent, Action Needed, FYI, or Low Priority
• Bug, Feature Request, Improvement, or Question
• Critical, High, Medium, or Low
• New, Improved, Fixed, or Breaking

Move 4 — Presentation paragraph

A prose paragraph (not a list) specifying how to sort, group, highlight, or format the output.

• Present results grouped by category, with Urgent items first.
• Sort by oldest first.
• Present as a ranked table followed by per-test detail.
• Prioritize by severity.

Move 5 — Empty-state handling

Always explicit. Never omitted. Names the null case.

• If the inbox is empty or all caught up, confirm that briefly.
• If all systems are healthy, confirm with a brief "All systems nominal" message.
• If there are no open PRs, confirm briefly.

Move 6 — Tone/length constraint (optional)

One closing line when output length matters.

• Keep the briefing concise and scannable.
• Keep the tone professional and concise.
• Keep drafts short — 2 to 4 sentences. Long release notes don't get read.

Secondary patterns

• Em-dash for inline definition. When a field name needs values, use — then the enumeration. Update type — major, minor, or patch.
• Branching in prose, not nested bullets. Use If X, do Y. Otherwise, do Z. at the decision point.
• Skip, don't null-pad. Tell the routine to omit empty sections rather than writing "nothing to report" under each one.
• Imperative voice throughout. Not "you should", "the assistant will", "please". Use direct commands: Categorize, Summarize, Flag, Present, Prioritize, Post.
• Possessive "my" is fine. Review my inbox is the user's possessive. You should review the inbox is soft second-person — avoid it.

A minimal template

<Title>
<Tagline ending in period.>
<Imperative opening + scope>. <For each X: | Include:>
1. <Verb-first attribute or section> — <closed enumeration if classification>
2. ...
3. ...
<Presentation paragraph: sort, group, highlight, format.> <Empty-state sentence.> <Optional tone/length line.>

Common failure modes

• Preamble. "This routine will help you..." — cut it. Start with the verb.
• Open-ended categories. "Categorize appropriately" — always enumerate the set.
• Mixed numbering. Pick one: the list describes attributes for each unit, or it describes sections of one report. Not both.
• Missing empty-state line. Leads to "no items found" padding in every section at runtime.
• Pipeline numbering when items are attributes. 1. Read the inbox. 2. For each email, categorize... is a pipeline; For each email: 1. Categorize... 2. Summarize... is attribute extraction. Attribute extraction is the common idiom; reach for the pipeline form only when stages truly run in sequence.
• Explaining the why. Routines are terminal instructions to an agent with tools, not tutorials. Cut rationale.

When the routine has real branching

Some routines are multi-stage pipelines rather than per-item extractions — triggered by one event (a PR merge, a CI failure), they run several steps in sequence and sometimes exit early. For these:

• Number the stages as sequential steps, each verb-first.
• Use If X, <terminal action>. Otherwise, <continue>. for early exits.
• Stages can include real work, not just reads — apply a fix, open a PR, file an issue, quarantine a test. The report then describes what was done and links to the artifact.
• The terminal action (Post, Open, Submit, Comment) serves as the presentation move — no separate Present/Sort line needed.
• Keep an empty-state sentence at the end.
• End with a length constraint if output size matters.